


Holiday Greetings (And Gay Happy Meetings)

by 2tiedships2



Series: It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alpha Harry, Alpha Liam Payne, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Baking, Beta Niall Horan, Christmas, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Harry would say, I guess we'll see if I can make a part 2?, Jealous Harry, Louis would say, M/M, No Smut, No mention of whisks, Omega Louis, Sharing Clothes, Sharing a Bed, Strangers to Lovers, Tree Decorating Fails, also a tag?, that's a tag? - Freeform, yet?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 06:22:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16928109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2tiedships2/pseuds/2tiedships2
Summary: "Onwards to drop me off at Robert's before you go to Harry's!" Louis proclaimed when they were safely in the car. Or at least Louis was safely in. Niall was still brushing the snow out of his hair that Louis had accidentally dropped on him."We're picking up biscuits first," Niall grumbled as the snow melted into his hair. "You can wait in the car."After three times of the car sounding like it was dying a slow and tragic death, it finally decided to start."This is what happens when you try to change the name of your car after five years," Louis said as a reminder of Niall's stupidity. "You'd be upset too if you were a car named Greased Lightning with a passenger trying to get it renamed to Dusty.""To be fair," Niall explained, "the name Dusty does seem a bit more accurate.""Make sure to leave the car running while you're getting whatever you're getting from Harry," Louis said in disgust. "This car is going to choke for good after that comment and I don't want to be stuck at Harry's place when that happens."Or the one where Niall's dead car and and a foot of snow conspire to force Louis into spending time with an alpha he hates.... or does he?





	Holiday Greetings (And Gay Happy Meetings)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my lovely beta and cheerleader [Lynda](http://wait4ever.tumblr.com). She definitely keeps me going! Also to [Susette](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com) who is teaching me how commas work. 
> 
> Title taken from the song 'It’s the Most Wonder Time of the Year' by Andy Williams.
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I have no association with the band One Direction and those surrounding them, please don't share this work with anyone in the band.
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Louis looked out the window and watched as the snow continued to fall. He hated snow. Well, he didn't hate the snow exactly. But he definitely hated snow when he had to be somewhere and was depending on Niall's car to take Louis to that somewhere.

"Stop complaining, Tommo," Niall said as he walked by Louis' bedroom door. Louis zipped up his duffle bag and threw it over his shoulder as he moved into the living room. 

"I haven't said a word," Louis shot back. "I literally haven't said anything about how long you're taking to find your keys."

"You've thought it though, haven't you?" Niall asked as he rummaged around in the kitchen somewhere. 

They had a key holder by the front door for a reason. It's sole purpose in life was to hold keys and Niall continued to deny the dutiful key holder of it's job. Louis threw himself down onto the couch and very patiently waited for Niall to find his car keys with no complaint.

"Your silence speaks volumes," Niall continued. "We have to stop by Harry's flat before I drop you off at Robert's by the way."

It sounded like Niall was opening every cabinet and drawer in the kitchen in search of his keys.

"We certainly do not," Louis stated. "You can drop me off first."

"Found them!" Niall yelled in triumph, jingling the keys as he walked out of the kitchen.

"Where were they?"

Niall shrugged. "The freezer."

"The freezer?" Louis asked. Because how the fuck did his keys get in the freezer?

"I have no idea, so don't ask," Niall said as he picked up a book and headed to the door. Louis jumped off the couch and grabbed his duffle bag. There was no point in asking.

"Onwards to drop me off at Robert's before you go to Harry's!" Louis proclaimed when they were safely in the car. Or at least Louis was safely in. Niall was still brushing the snow out of his hair that Louis had accidentally dropped on him. 

"We're picking up biscuits first," Niall grumbled as the snow melted into his hair. "You can wait in the car."

So maybe snow accidentally falling into Niall's hair was a bad idea. Louis was now being punished. In true punishee form, Louis sulked down into the seat and gave Niall the silent treatment. 

Sadly it didn't last very long, as Louis had to comment on the fact that Niall's car was barely starting. After three times of the car sounding like it was dying a slow and tragic death, it finally decided to start.

"This is what happens when you try to change the name of your car after five years," Louis said as a reminder of Niall's stupidity. "You'd be upset too if you were a car named Greased Lightning with a passenger trying to get it renamed to Dusty."

Niall gave a soft pat to the car's dashboard as if to appease it. When his fingers came away with dust on them Niall held them up to Louis' face. Louis pushed Niall's hand back to his side of the car and continued sulking.

"To be fair," Niall explained, "the name Dusty does seem a bit more accurate."

"Make sure to leave the car running while you're getting whatever you're getting from Harry," Louis said in disgust. "This car is going to choke for good after that comment and I don't want to be stuck at Harry's place when that happens."

Niall let out a bright laugh and finally moved out of the driveway, the wheels of the car slipping on snow as it slowly moved towards the street. Maybe Louis should have walked. 

\----

Supposedly Niall was only picking up biscuits from Harry, so what the fuck was taking so long? Louis turned the heat down in the car a notch as he sent a text to Robert saying he was on his way. Hopefully. Not that Louis was particularly excited for the weekend. Helping an ex-boyfriend with their rut wasn't really something exciting in his book. But they had left their relationship on friendly terms (two weeks after Harry had punched Robert in the club) and Louis was sure Robert would return the favor if Louis were to ask him for help during his heat. 

Louis automatically glared in the direction of Harry's front door in the hopes that his ears would burn off at Louis' thought. Louis still hadn't spoken with Harry, nor would he. According to Niall, who naturally had to go and become friends with the lad, Harry didn't mean to do it. Which, okay? If you don't mean to punch someone, then keep your fists to yourself and stay on the other side of the room.

Louis had only been forced to be in the presence of Harry on two other occasions, both of them being in this car when Niall had been the designated chauffeur of dropping Louis off at Robert's and Niall being a good person and giving Harry a ride to wherever Harry went to. Louis didn't pay attention to where they were going, only that Harry was trying to rename Greased Lightning. 

Maybe Niall's Ford Escort wasn’t exactly a great car, but at least with a name pulled from the greatest movie of all time it had a fighting chance of being worthy. Harry had gone and tried to get Niall to rename Greased Lightning to the name of his old dusty childhood cat. The worst thing about that encounter was it seemed like Harry was trying to engage Louis in the conversation. Which, no thanks. 

Louis couldn't help but feel a bit bad for Niall, though. He had to have known that Louis wouldn't be too keen to have Harry around when he was the reason for Louis' split with Robert, right? Or more like Robert's split with Louis. Whichever. It had been a mutual agreement, but Louis had a feeling Robert was thinking of Harry, despite none of them ever speaking beyond the shouting and name calling in the club. Louis wanted to know what Harry had been thinking, but he also didn't want to know. Niall seemed to have understood something, though, and befriended Harry immediately. And now Louis was stuck in his car while Niall was still in Harry's flat.

With no sign of Niall after honking the horn several times, Louis sighed in defeat. He turned the car off and climbed out and into the snow. Apparently he was going to have to forcibly remove Niall from the enchantment of Harry's baking skills.

\----

Thankfully there was only one Harry living in the building, at least according to the names next to the speaker buttons for the flats. Louis rang the door of the complex far too many times in order to be an annoyance. Maybe Harry would kick Niall out until Louis was gone for the weekend. The two of them could have plenty of time to bond while Louis was away helping Robert.

Once Louis had done a thorough job of ringing the buzzer, the door immediately unlocked with no response. It was probably Niall assuming Louis had given up waiting outside. He really should have stayed in the car. Louis took a second look at the list of names by the door and verified that Harry was on the fourth floor. Of course he would choose to live on the top floor. 

Louis stepped into the lobby and looked around for the lift. There was none. Because of course Harry would choose to live on the fourth floor in a building with no lift. Louis made a mental note of that being yet another thing he disliked about Harry.

Louis ended up practically crawling up the four flights of stairs in an attempt to put off his arrival. Either that or his body just hated the climb. If he felt this winded going at the slow pace through his avoidance technique, he didn’t want to think how it could be if he had climbed all four flights at a normal pace. He really needed to start working out again. 

The door to Harry's flat was propped open which Louis took as an invitation to go in. No way in hell was he going in. He had things to do, places to go, people to see, and people to avoid.

"Niall!" Louis whisper-yelled through the crack in the door. "Robert called me. He's starting his rut early so we need to go!"

The door swung open to reveal Harry with a disgruntled look on his face. And no shirt.

"Holy fuck," Louis let slip. Thankfully more of a whisper although he knew Harry would have no problem hearing. But holy fuck. Obviously Louis had seen Harry previously. but he had seen him in a dark club when Louis was furious and yelling at him, and he had given a single glance back to acknowledge Harry's existence as he awkwardly climbed into Niall's car the two times. He had also been fully clothed on all occasions.

The tattoos. And the six pack. And his scent. If he could have moved, Louis would be running in the other direction. In the back of his clouded mind, Louis was thankful that he was bundled in winter clothing because he was fairly sure his pheromones would be betraying him. And Harry could not know that Louis found him attractive. 

"Aww, Lou, Lou," Niall cooed as if talking to a toddler. "I was just about to leave, but did you want to come in? I mean, I guess that's up to Harry, but he made really good biscuits. Like, really really good biscuits."

Louis crossed his arms and looked anywhere but at Harry. It was a difficult task, but this was one task he would not fail at. 

"Niall," Louis sweetly said. "Did you forget that I was in the car? Because it's cold as fuck and I'm ready to leave."

"You can come in, if you like," Harry quietly offered. He sounded hopeful. It didn't matter. Harry's flat would smell even stronger and... absolutely not. Robert's scent wasn't as enticing, but Louis much preferred to be at Robert’s place.

Louis officially failed at his task of not looking at Harry and gave him a once over before meeting his eyes. For some reason he thought Harry would have a satisfied smirk on his face but Harry actually looked slightly... sad? Disappointed? It didn't matter. Harry was rude, immature, and obviously violent. All of which trumped his good looks and amazing scent.

Louis tried to give a friendly smile but it probably looked more like.a grimace and said, "Thank you, but no. I have an alpha waiting for me. The one that you punched, if you can remember three weeks back. Or maybe you were too drunk to remember anything. It obviously doesn't matter at this point."

The words came out in a rush, were harsh and Louis immediately regretted them. He couldn't place blame on Harry for the words exactly, but Louis was too overwhelmed in the moment. He wasn't expecting Harry to answer the door like this. He didn't plan on seeing Harry ever again.

"I'm..." Harry started.

"Let's go, Lou," Niall quietly said. "We're running late."

Harry moved back into the flat to let Niall pass by while Louis immediately turned to walk back down the stairs. He couldn't look at Harry for a whole other reason at this point. 

"Will you still be around in a few, Harry?" Louis heard Niall ask. "I'll stop on by on the way home."

Louis was halfway down the stairs before he heard Niall start to descend. With Niall's keys still in hand, he quickly unlocked the car door and hopped into the passenger seat. From the frown on Niall's face, Louis could tell he was disappointed with a side of angry. It wasn't a good look on him.

Niall yanked the door open and quickly got in the car, slamming the door after him.

Niall quickly turned on Louis and spit out, "What the fuck was that, Lou?! Have you not considered the fact that maybe he regrets what he did? That maybe he would like to apologize? Maybe have a second chance and be able to talk to you?"

All Louis could do was shrug.

"Lou," Niall continued. "Spoiler alert. He's ashamed of what he did! I'm not supposed to tell you that because that's something he would want to do himself, but you're obviously not going to give him a chance to talk, so there you go."

The car fell silent. Louis looked out the window and watched as the snow continued to fall. He hadn't checked the weather but he wondered how much snow the city was supposed to get. With no response, Niall grabbed the car keys from Louis' hand and started the car. Or didn't start the car. Because the car wasn't starting. 

"I told you so," Louis whispered. Hopefully it would break the tension a little bit. 

"Shut up," Niall responded with slight laughter in his voice. 

Niall tried over and over, but it seemed Greased Lightning needed grease. Or maybe lightning. A key to start the engine wasn't going to do the job this time around.

"You know what this means, right?" Niall asked. 

"I'll be walking?"

Louis could feel Niall roll his eyes. "Look out the window, Tommo. There's no way you're walking anywhere."

This definitely wasn't happening. Maybe Harry and Louis could exchange apologies, but not now. It was too soon after Louis' harsh words.

Louis gave a decisive nod and said, "I think I'll take my chances and walk. Robert is expecting me."

Niall reached over and smacked Louis upside the head. What the fuck?

"What the fuck was that for, Niall?!"

"I'm sure Robert has gone through many ruts on his own. Text him and let him know you're not going to make it. Because you're not going to make it. You're going to have to grow a pair and face Harry. You did this to yourself."

Louis scoffed. "I'm pretty sure Harry is the one that punched Robert. He started it."

"You are such a child," Niall said as he grabbed Louis' duffle bag and opened the door. "Let's go."

"Wait, Niall!" Louis called after him. "Why are you bringing my bag?"

Niall shrugged. "We may be here a while."

Oh, hell no. That bag contained stuff to last a weekend. There was no way they would need a weekend’s worth of stuff. Louis opened his door and ran after Niall. Well, ran as fast as the piles of snow would allow him. He definitely wasn't running. God, it might be easier to crawl again. Niall may be right and, unless Niall got a new car, Louis was never accepting a ride from him again. 

\----

The speaker crackled to life just as Niall finished pressing the button for Harry's flat.

"Yes? Hello?"

Niall glanced over to Louis before he continued. "Harry. My friend. My favorite baker who makes biscuits better than anyone in the entire world...."

The door buzzed open. It appeared Harry got tired of Niall's rambling just as fast as Louis. He could at least appreciate that. 

"Niall," Louis whispered as they started the climb back to the fourth floor. Louis was going to have to pretend to be in shape with Niall here.

"Niall," Louis repeated when he received no response. "Please have Harry put a shirt on."

Niall unexpectedly stopped on the stairs and Louis walked right up into him causing both of them to grab onto the railing before they fell to their death. Louis was going to die from Harry’s stairs. Or maybe just a broken limb, although Louis would accept death over having to beg Harry for a place to stay. Maybe. Debatable. He'd put thought into that if Harry actually let him in.

"Why do you want me to ask him to put a shirt on?" Niall slowly asked.

"Niall!" Louis hissed.

"Oh, my God," Niall interrupted. "You think he's hot? Does he smell good too? Being a beta is really boring sometimes."

Louis ignored the comment and proceeded, "Just. Why is he shirtless in this weather anyway? It's freezing."

Niall continued the trek up the stairs. "I suppose you can ask him. I'm not asking for him to put a shirt on, though. That's on you if you want him to."

Louis let out a mostly silent groan and proceeded to pull out his phone to google for a tow truck. Hopefully they could get someone out to fix the car. As Louis pretended not to be out of breath, he also pulled out his app to call a taxi before shooting a text to Robert saying he would probably not be able to make it. If all of this activity on his phone gave him an excuse to move slower up the stairs, then no one had to know.

Niall was talking to, or at, Harry as Louis came into view of the fourth floor. Harry seemed to be ignoring Niall as his gaze was already directed onto Louis. Louis quickly averted his eyes to the floor as he noticed Harry open his door wider to let Niall in. He also noticed that Harry was wearing a shirt. At least that was one thing to be grateful for. 

"Hey," Louis quietly said as he reached Harry's door. He still couldn't look him in the eyes. Was he supposed to apologize now? 

Harry gestured towards the inside of his flat and said, "Come on in, Louis."

Louis finally caved and looked up to meet Harry's eyes. They were warm and welcoming. And so very green. Louis gave a grateful smile and moved to join Niall in the entryway. Louis didn't know what he was expecting from Harry's flat, but as he walked in he found boxes strewn all over the room with what appeared to be Christmas decorations. In the corner of the room sat a full size live Christmas tree. It smelled like Christmas. The flat was small, but well furnished. It felt like a home as opposed to a rented flat like Louis' and Niall's place. 

"Sorry, H," Niall said. "When I said I'd be back I didn't mean like this. I meant after I dropped off the dickhead."

"Thanks, Niall," Louis mumbled. Niall turned towards the naked Christmas tree and Louis took the opportunity to throw invisible daggers at him. Niall seemed unfazed. 

"Um, sorry the place is such a mess," Harry said as he scrambled to move a few boxes off of the couch to allow room to sit. Once that task was complete, Harry turned back to Louis and gestured to have a seat. "Make yourself at home."

Niall snorted from where he was poking around in a box. More daggers were thrown.

Louis took a seat and pulled up his phone once more. He glanced outside the window and knew that there would be no tow truck available to come rescue him. Louis wondered if he and Niall would have made it to Robert's place and back if the car had even started. He was fucking trapped. Louis looked to the Christmas tree and gave the inanimate object a grateful smile. At least the smell of Christmas was helping to cover Harry's scent. It wasn't as strong as Louis thought it would be, which made Louis wonder if another alpha lived here. 

"Do you, um, have a roommate?" Louis asked, surprising even himself by the inquiry. He was supposed to remain silent for the entirety of his stay here.

"I do," Harry said as he moved another box towards the tree. "I'm thinking he's probably going to be snowed in at his boyfriends place though, so..."

"How much is it supposed to snow anyway?" Niall asked. "I didn't pack a weekend bag like Lou did."

Louis watched a dark look wash over Harry's face before it quickly disappeared as Harry joined Niall in front of the box that he was rummaging through. Niall had no boundaries, honesty. This wasn't their home for them to go through.

"It was your job to check the weather, Niall," Louis responded. "If you didn't check then you don't get to know."

"In other words, you don't know," Niall stated as he turned to Louis.

Louis shrugged. "You could ask Harry, but I doubt he checked as well."

Harry turned with a look of confusion. "Why do you say that?"

Louis turned his attention to his phone to hide his warming cheeks. "You weren't wearing a shirt when you answered the door earlier."

Niall snorted again. Louis was going to strangle him in his sleep. Which, where were they going to sleep? Maybe the snow would melt quickly? 

"Anyway," Niall said. "Harry, would you mind if we crashed here? I think it's pretty obvious no one can go anywhere."

Louis noticed Harry glance over to him out of the corner of his eye. "Of course I don't mind. I have plenty of food and Liam won't be here, so I'm sure he won't mind lending his bed to, um, Niall."

Niall snorted. Again.

"For fuck's sake, Niall," Louis burst out. "What is your issue?"

Niall gave up on looking through the boxes and sat down next to Louis. He patted Louis on the knee and said, "Nothing, darling. I didn't mean it."

"Darling?" Harry and Louis questioned in unison. 

"Biscuits, H?" Niall innocently asked.

"Sure," Harry said as he moved to the kitchen. Once out of sight Louis turned to Niall with a questioning look.

"I'm sorry, Lou, honestly," Niall explained. Or didn't explain. 

"For?" Louis gestured for him to continue.

"I mean, the two of you are so awkward. It's just amusing to watch."

"I swear to God if you snort one more time I will strangle you in your sleep."

Niall gave a serious nod. "Noted. Now the two of you play nice. This will be fun, I promise."

Louis only had time to throw Niall a glare before Harry was back. This was awkward and Louis didn't know how to make it un-awkward. He was usually the one who made that happen. But he was honestly overwhelmed because was Harry sweating or something? The Christmas tree wasn't covering up his scent as well as it should anymore.

Harry didn't sit, but instead moved towards one of the boxes on the floor. Louis couldn't help but follow his movements. His Rolling Stones shirt had more holes in it than Louis could count, or could be bothered to count, because he was a bit distracted by Harry's legs. Louis wondered how high the flat's heating bill was if Harry always walked around in short shorts and t-shirt in the winter. Louis hadn't noticed the small hair clip on Harry's shirt until he was gathering his hair and clipping it. Louis continued to look on as he tried to imagine Harry with his hair long. He liked the image.

Wait. No. Louis didn't like the image. He didn't like Harry.

"I like your hair clippy," Louis proclaimed from his seat on the couch. Mother fucker.

Harry stood up and yanked the hair clip out of his hair, quickly shaking his hair out with both hands.

Niall let out a loud Irish laugh. "Did you forget about us that quickly, H?" 

"No, I mean, no, it's just..." Harry abruptly ended his rambling as he looked to Louis with a blush creeping onto his cheeks. Embarrassment overtook the smell of the tree. 

"Do you want help?" Niall offered. "It's not like we have much else to do."

Harry looked around the room, appearing a bit lost and overwhelmed. Louis was internally just as lost. This was not the man who had punched his boyfriend only a few weeks ago. Well, his ex-boyfriend. Louis frowned at that thought and tried to bring his mind back to his and Robert's breakup conversation. To be fair, they both knew they weren't meant for a long term relationship. They would never bond. At least Louis knew that after a few months. Robert seemed to be on the same page from what Louis gathered. But why didn't they wait until after Robert's rut to start the breakup conversation? Why did Robert appear to distance himself after the club incident? Louis hadn't noticed... until he was sat here watching Harry.

"Do you want help?" Louis echoed Niall's question. He needed something to do or he was going to drive himself mad with questions. 

Louis didn't wait for Harry's response before he stood up and picked up a strand of fairy lights from the floor. They were a tangled mess and Louis promptly tossed them to the side. No way in hell was he going to bother untangling them. 

"Lou!" Niall exclaimed. 

"I was tossing them your way, Niall," Louis lied. "You can untangle them."

Niall looked in disgust at the pile of strands of lights on the floor before getting up off of the couch. 

"No, don't worry about it," Harry said. "I'll just buy new ones. I'll charge them to Liam since he's the one who shoved them in the box like that."

Niall held his hand up to stop Harry. "I've got this, H. Actually we have this. Louis is helping."

"What?" Louis asked.

"No, that's okay," Harry insisted. "Really, I can just buy new ones."

"Hush the both of you," Niall stated. "Hold this, Lou."

Before Louis knew what he was happening Niall shoved the end of the strand into his hand. Niall had horrible ideas and Louis had no doubt this was yet another one.

"Now stand in the middle of the room," Niall directed.

Louis could tell Niall was on a mission and there would be no stopping him. In order to avoid further embarrassment Louis stood as directed. And so began the process of Niall untangling the fairy lights, using Louis as a fucking pole to wrap the lights around as he went. Louis was wrong. Further embarrassment was a success. Congratulations, Niall won and Louis was even more trapped than he thought possible.

\----

"Turn," Niall stated. They were fifteen minutes into Niall wrapping the cord of fairy lights around Louis and he could no longer move. There was no doubt that Niall was intentionally wrapping the cord as tight as possible. 

Louis huffed. "I literally cannot turn, Niall. Did you happen to pay attention to how tight you've wrapped these damn things around me?"

"Turn!" Niall demanded.

"Walk around me, you idiot," Louis shot back.

Harry let out a loud laugh and both Louis and Niall stopped their bickering and turned in Harry's direction. Well, Niall turned. Louis craned his neck and concentrated on not falling over. 

Harry held up his hands in surrender and asked, "I'm sorry, did you two forget I was here this time? And are you always like this?"

"No," Niall stated. "Or maybe?"

"Depends what you are referring to," Louis replied. "If you are referring to Niall being a pain in the ass then yes, he is always like this."

"On the bright side," Niall continued. "I've finished with the lights. We don't have to put them on the tree or anything, but they're untangled."

Louis scowled. "Yes, we are in fact putting them on the tree, or wherever Harry wants them."

"Or we could just leave them where they are," Niall interjected. "Do you have a bondage kink, Lou? I've never asked."

Before Louis had a chance to respond there was a crash behind him. Louis craned his neck back in time to see Harry tripping over a box and falling back into the tree. Thankfully the tree was still tucked into the corner enough to avoid falling to the floor with him, but branches cracked and fell as Harry eventually landed face first onto the floor.

"Holy shit," Niall whispered.

"Ow," Harry groaned into the floor boards.

"I still don't like you, Harry," Louis said from his post in the middle of the room. "But if I could help you, I would. Unlike Niall, who is the only one of us who actually can move, and isn't doing a damn thing."

"It's fine," Harry mumbled. "I'm fine."

Niall seemed to come back to life and immediately abandoned Louis, leaving him helpless in the middle of the room. 

"Niall, help Louis," Harry said as he peeled himself off of the floor. "I'm fine, honestly."

Louis doubted that but if it got Niall to remove the lights, Louis wasn't going to argue. Niall proceeded to walk around Louis, handling the strand carefully as to prevent them from tangling again. By the time Louis was free, Harry was up and rearranging the tree so the broken branches faced the wall. Once free to move, Louis dropped back down onto the couch and proceeded to watch Harry. 

He didn't mean to watch him exactly, but his eyes sort of gravitated on their own accord. He could smell Harry’s strong scent again. Despite Niall thinking it was boring to be a beta, Louis often wondered what it would be like to not have so many scents floating around. Clubs were especially frustrating. It would be nice to dance with someone and only be able to smell them. Louis wondered if Harry's scent would stick out in the crowd of a club. It was unique and seemed to call out to Louis like no other alpha’s scent ever had.

Once Harry had the tree standing on its own, he moved to join Louis and Niall, throwing himself down on the arm chair on the other side of Louis. The closer Harry sat to Louis, the more his senses picked up. Louis officially wanted to bury himself into Harry's neck and scent him. He wasn't supposed to even like Harry. He was the cause of Robert's black eye and their eventual breakup. Where was that Harry from the club? Because Louis was forgetting about that version of him far too quickly.

"So maybe we could do the decorating tomorrow?" Harry asked. He sounded exhausted. 

Louis nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Assuming we're still stuck here, that is."

Harry's scent changed. To what, Louis couldn't make out, but he knew Louis was the cause of it. It's not like it was expected that they stay, was it?

"So? Movie?" Niall asked.

The TV was behind a few boxes, but that would be an easy task to complete. Where did all of these boxes even come from? The flat did not look big enough to store everything.

"Where do these decorations usually stay?" Louis asked. "Do you have room here?"

Harry gave a soft chuckle and shook his head. Louis wished he would put the hair clip back in his hair. He wasn't lying when he said he liked it.

"I keep them in storage," Harry stated as he looked towards the blank screen. "I like having decorations for the different seasons and holidays. It makes it feel a bit homier. In my opinion at least. Liam doesn't really seem to care."

Louis didn't care either. "I like it." 

Louis wasn't talking for the rest of the night if his mouth was going to continue to betray him.

Harry turned towards him and gave a soft smile. "Thanks."

Niall snorted. He then proceeded to cough as if that would cover up his snort. 

"I swear to God, Niall," Louis responded.

"Anyway," Niall said. "What movie are we watching? I'm thinking The Fast and Furious."

"No," Louis promptly responded. "It's the Christmas season, Niall. Look around the room. And the fact that we're snowed it. I vote we watch How The Grinch Stole Christmas. The original version."

Niall gave him an unimpressed look and said, "Right, because a grinch stealing Christmas is any better?"

"Mate, he gives it back," Louis countered. "Have you not seen it? They sing around a Christmas tree and everything. Plus, the branches on the town's tree are all intact, unlike Harry's tree over there." 

"What about Love Actually?" Harry chimed in. Effectively ignoring Louis' deformed tree comment. 

"We'll watch Love Actually," Niall stated. "I'm team Harry." 

"Of course you are," Louis mumbled.

Harry got out of his chair and moved the boxes around. The movie was already pulled out and sitting by the video player. He was prepared, that one. Harry promptly put it in and started the movie. 

Louis had planned on eating a late dinner at Robert's, but wasn't about to say anything about food. He grabbed the plate of biscuits from the side table. Who could complain about biscuits for dinner?

Louis had seen the film years ago so he knew the general storyline. He couldn't quite take his eyes off of Harry, though. Harry had turned most of the lights off and his profile against the light of the TV was beautiful. 

The boy before him was an enigma. What had prompted the club incident? The Harry before him was soft and lovely. He was clumsy and shy. He was everything that Louis wasn't expecting. Louis needed to apologize. Well, they both needed to apologize.

The biscuits failed him and Louis' stomach let out a growl of hunger. Harry promptly turned towards Louis with a frown on his face.

"Shit," Harry quietly said. "Shit, I'm sorry. I should have offered food. I don't know why I didn't think of that."

Louis shrugged. "We were kind of busy. I'm fine, Harry, thank you."

Harry was already up and on his way to the kitchen. "Do you want, like, a bunch of snacks? Or I could make something. Oh! I have frozen pizza. I'll make that."

Louis could only look towards Niall who merely shrugged. "Food is good. Go with it, Lou."

"We're already crashing his flat. He shouldn't have to feed us too."

"I don't think you're going to be able to stop him. I think he likes you, so accept it."

Louis scoffed. "Absolutely not."

"Suit yourself," Niall said as he turned his attention back to the movie.

Harry didn't return until the pizza was finished. He handed a plate to both Niall and Louis and settled back into his seat. Louis couldn't stop his mind from thinking how much he wanted Harry to sit next to him. Louis internally sighed. What the fuck was wrong with him?

\----

"So," Niall began after the movie had ended. "I’m thinking it’s time to turn in for the night, yeah? Lou needs his beauty sleep."

“Excuse you,” Louis protested, “but I’m already beautiful. Sleep is not needed to remain so.”

Harry remained silent as he looked around the room. Louis could tell he wasn't prepared for guests.

"You said I would be sleeping in Liam's bed?" Niall offered.

"Yeah," Harry stated. He directed his gaze to Louis who internally squirmed. 

"I can share with Niall," Louis said. "It's no problem."

"Absolutely not," Niall interrupted, making an executive decision. "Lou, you can either sleep on the couch or Harry can offer his bed."

"I'll sleep on the couch," Louis rushed before Harry had a chance to say anything. There was no way he could sleep in Harry's bed. That just signaled sexual frustration and absolutely no sleep.

Harry quickly shook his head. Fuck. He was going to offer his bed.

"The couch is so uncomfortable to sleep on. Please take my bed, Lou."

"Niall," Louis begged in a voice only Niall would recognize as a call for help.

In response, Louis was met with Niall bending over as he cackled. He needed a new best friend. Niall hopped up and headed to what Louis assumed would be Liam's room.

"I'm just going to borrow something of Liam's to sleep in," Niall announced. "Maybe I'll text him to let him know, but goodnight, lads. Sleep well, Tommo!"

Niall let out another peal of laughter as he left the room. Harry proceeded to stand up and gestured for Louis to lead the way. Because naturally Louis would know where Harry's room was. Well, Louis could probably find it with no problem just on scent alone, but that was neither here nor there. Louis quickly grabbed his duffle bag from where he had dropped it earlier and waited for Harry to take the lead. Louis would have plenty of time to plot his revenge towards Niall as he suffocated himself in Harry's smell.

"Honestly, Harry," Louis said as he followed him down the hall. "The couch is fine. And it smells like Christmas in the living room."

Harry flipped the light on in the room and turned to face Louis. He had a frown on his face, his brows furrowed. What did Louis say to provoke that facial expression?

"I can change the sheets, if you want," Harry quietly said. "If they smell or something."

Louis fish-mouthed. They did smell. They smelled like the beautiful alpha who was stood in front of him. 

Louis dropped his eyes to the floor. It was time to apologize. Louis would be the one to start.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Louis said as he slowly looked up into Harry's green eyes.

For some reason Harry cheeks warmed and became a lovely shade of pink. He rushed to the bed and yanked the blanket down, quickly starting to take the sheet off the bed.

"I'm sorry," Harry said in a rush as he tore the bedding off. "I'm sorry. I didn't think. I didn't know. I just thought..."

What the fuck was happening? Before he knew what he was doing Louis rushed up behind Harry and wrapped his arms around his middle, catching Harry's arms and effectively halting his moments. Right, so now what? How did Louis end up hugging Harry?

"That's not what I meant," Louis said against Harry's back. He slowly released Harry and stepped back to allow space between them. Harry slowly turned to face Louis, his face even more flushed. "That's not what I meant," Louis repeated quieter. He fidgeted with the hem of his shirt as he continued. "I meant I'm sorry about earlier tonight. How I talked to you in the hallway. You didn't deserve to be spoken to like that."

Harry let out a strangled noise from the back of his throat before proceeding. "Yes, I did. I deserve so much worse than that, Lou. I'm the one that should be sorry. I'm the one that is sorry. I hate that I treated you like that. Or I treated your alpha like that. I'm sorry for any trouble I caused. It's just..."

Louis wasn't sure if Harry expected him to respond.

"You were right," Harry continued softly. "I was drunk. I was drunk and the only thing I saw was a beautiful omega in the arms of an alpha. An alpha who wasn't me. And I guess your alpha, Robert, noticed me watching and he immediately scent marked you. Which, I mean, makes sense since the two of you were together. But I guess I didn't know that you were together? I just thought you were dancing with a random guy. And a random guy shouldn't be scent marking an omega just to make another alpha jealous. It also didn't help that I had agreed to go to a club when I was so close to my rut. I just... that's never happened before and I'm so sorry. For Robert’s black eye and any effect it caused on your relationship.”

That's not the explanation Louis was expecting. Or apology that he was expecting. Harry was looking at him pleadingly and Louis didn't know how he was meant to respond to that information. Drunk he could understand. Being close to his rut, maybe? But jealous? 

"It's okay," Louis said. "It's in the past, yeah? How about we exchange apologies and leave it in the past?"

Harry shook his head and said, "It's not that simple."

Louis shrugged. "Do you forgive me for talking to you like I did earlier?"

"Of course," Harry immediately responded.

Louis took the bed sheet that Harry was clutching and moved to put it back on the mattress. 

"Well," Louis continued. "Then I forgive you."

"Louis."

"It's okay, Harry," Louis said as he pretended to know how to successfully put a sheet on a bed on the first try. "Me and Robert weren't meant to be. I already knew that. We're still friends so it's not like it's a traumatic loss or anything."

"Lou."

Louis gave up on the sheet and turned back to face Harry. He looked sad. Again.

"Am I expected to stay mad at you?" Louis asked. "I mean, I could if you wanted me to. Or I could go ahead and choose to be flattered that you were jealous for no reason."

"Oh," Harry eloquently stated.

"You can put the bedding back on," Louis said. "I don't mind the smell. Mostly."

"Mostly?" Harry asked, sounding intrigued.

Should he just lie? They apologized and were moving on. But Harry didn't need to know that Louis found his scent the most desirable of any alpha he had ever met. Louis didn't want to just sleep in a bed with the stale scent of this alpha. He wanted to nuzzle into his neck and fall asleep beside Harry.

Was there harm in Harry knowing? The worst that could happen was Louis would sleep on the couch and leave as soon as possible. There would be no reason to see Harry again, right?

Louis shrugged. He couldn't quite look Harry in the eyes as he quietly admitted his thoughts. "I like your scent. A lot. And I'm either going to sleep like a baby or not sleep at all. My guess would be on the latter. Do you think I could sleep on the couch? It's Christmas time, I might as well enjoy it while I can. Me and Niall certainly aren't going to be getting a live tree."

Louis was back to looking into Harry's eyes. He couldn't read what Harry was thinking.

"Whichever you prefer, Lou," Harry said. "How about you go put your pajamas on and I'll make up the bed and couch. You decide."

Louis simply nodded and left to find the bathroom, dragging his duffle bag along with him.

\----

The couch had been a bad idea. But so was the bed. Maybe he should just go sleep in the car. Harry’s scent was overwhelming and Louis had never been so affected. 

Louis stared up at the ceiling and thought back to something a friend had once told him about scents. He had said that the effect of an alpha’s scent could be indicative of their relationship. The stronger the pull of one’s scent could mean they’re your mate. Was Harry pulled to Louis’ scent? Harry had said he was jealous of Robert scent marking him. Why? Was Harry able to smell Louis in the club?

Louis was realizing that he definitely had a better chance of sleeping wrapped in Harry's scent. Now Louis couldn't sleep knowing it was right down the hall. He laid looking up at the ceiling. The smell of the tree did remind him of Christmas, though, so he concentrated on that. 

It wasn't working.

Louis sat up and looked down the hall. He couldn't help but notice that Harry had left the door cracked open. What did that mean? Anything? Nothing? Did he always sleep with the door open like that? Why would someone do that? Unless they had a pet that wanted to go in and out of the room. Louis had yet to see the dusty cat that Harry had gone on about, so he could only assume the dust ball was still living with Harry's mum.

Fuck it. Harry could throw him out if he wanted to, but Louis had changed his mind. He wanted the bed. At least if Harry threw him out, Louis would have some sort of answer as to whether Harry liked his scent. Harry wouldn't want to sleep next to someone that he didn't like the smell of. 

Louis got up and tiptoed towards Harry's room. He softly knocked on the door frame so he wouldn't cause the door to open farther.

"Harry?" he whispered. It had been long enough for Harry to be asleep and he didn't want to disturb him.

"Come in, Lou," Harry quietly responded. From the sound of his voice it didn't seem like he had been sleeping yet.

Louis wasn't going to deny the invitation and slipped through the door, closing it fully once he was in the room. Harry was already holding the blanket up in invitation as Louis moved towards the bed.

"I'm sorry," Louis whispered. "I know you probably don't want me here, but I can't sleep. And I thought maybe you could calm me down or something? Niall would obviously be useless in assisting."

"Can I scent mark you, Louis?" Harry asked. "It would probably be the quickest way for you to calm down and be able to go into a deep sleep."

Louis merely nodded his head. Hopefully Harry would notice. They weren't touching and Louis desperately wanted to hold onto Harry, or have Harry pull him in. Whichever would work. 

They lay in silence, unmoving for a few moments until Harry finally reached out to Louis and softly instructed, "Come here, Lou."

Louis shifted onto his side and shuffled into Harry's space. Harry proceeded to sneak his arm under Louis so he could pull him in closer. 

As Louis allowed Harry to arrange him as desired, Louis realized he hadn't really seen many of the usual alpha characteristics in Harry. Well, with the exception of the weird territorial occurrence in the club. Okay, to be fair, tonight was the first night that he had spent time with Harry, but that's the vibe Louis had been getting from him. Putting up Christmas decorations would be a good test of character. Louis preferred to watch the decorations go up, but most of the time he was the one doing the dirty work. If Harry had Louis doing any sort of the manual labor, Louis would place consideration into moving on to find an alpha who Louis was just as attracted to. 

Not that Louis was attracted to Harry. He just needed some pheromones to help him sleep better. 

Louis ended with his head tucked into Harry's chest as Harry nuzzled into Louis' neck. Somehow their limbs had become tangled. Louis hadn't been expecting this upon entering Harry's bedroom, but he hadn't been this comforted in ages. 

"Is this okay, Lou?" Harry asked into Louis' shoulder.

It was more than okay. Louis really hoped tree decorating went well in the morning.

"Yeah," Louis mumbled into Harry's chest. "Thank you, H."

In the back of his mind Louis' knew Harry was scent marking him, but it felt so good. Louis was asleep before he even knew what happened.

\----

Louis woke up with his arms wrapped around a pillow. Why was he hugging a pillow? Harry seemed to be long gone. Well, gone ish. Louis could only assume they were still imprisoned by the snow. Although he didn't feel as imprisoned today. He hadn't woken up so refreshed in ages. 

The smell of bacon started to seep through the door and Louis couldn't help a smile overtaking his face. The extent of breakfast food in his and Niall's flat was cereal and milk. Well, most of the time they had milk. And tea. Always tea.

Louis moved to sit up, still holding the pillow. Seriously, why was he hugging a fucking pillow? He tossed it to the side and got up to join the bacon. The actual humans in the flat were irrelevant, it was all about the food that was hopefully awaiting him.

Louis shuffled through the small flat and found Niall sitting at the small table looking bleary-eyed and not yet awake. He hugged a cup of tea while pretending to look interested in whatever Harry was doing. Holding a cup of tea made a lot more sense than a pillow, but moving on. Louis smacked Niall upside the head as he moved to sit at the table with him.

"Ow!" Niall exclaimed. "Good morning to you too, Tommo."

"Morning," Louis said, sounding a bit too awake. 

Niall looked over and gave Louis a knowing look. Louis wasn't sure if Niall actually knew anything or if he was just giving him a knowing look in the hope that Louis would tell him. Louis might be more awake than usual, but it was still too early to decipher Niall's facial expressions. 

"Good morning, Louis," Harry said from the stove. He turned to give Louis a small smile before returning to prepare the food. It was too quick to see Louis return the smile.

"So," Niall started. "You chose the bed over the couch, I see. How did you sleep then?"

"Shut up, Niall," Louis replied as he stood back up and shuffled towards the kettle he spotted by the stove. "It's too early to be interrogated."

Louis needed a plan. He had fallen asleep so quickly after joining Harry he forgot to plan any sort of revenge towards Niall. He also needed a plan in case Christmas decorating didn't go well and Louis had to go back to hating Harry. 

Instead of figuring out a plan, Louis just gave Harry a shy smile as he joined him by the stove. 

"Is it okay if I ask how you slept?" Harry asked.

Niall scoffed. "He's not going to tell you if he wouldn't tell me, Harry."

Louis ignored Niall and responded to Harry's inquiry. "I haven't slept that well in a long time. Thank you, Harry."

"What?" Niall questioned.

"Thank you for letting us stay here," Louis said before Niall had the chance to continue. How was he meant to show how grateful he was when Niall was here? Niall was not getting any satisfaction in Louis enjoying the company of Harry.

Once Louis had a cup of tea he had a seat back at the table. Niall was squinting at him. Louis rolled his eyes and put his full concentration on his tea. Well, minus the amount of concentration that was being applied to Harry and his morning scent. It was lovely and Louis couldn't decide which he liked better, the smell of bacon or Harry's unique scent. Or maybe Harry's scent mixed with the bacon. Maybe that was it. 

What time was it that he was both wide awake but.... not. Louis looked around the room and found the time on the microwave. Ten. Ten?!? Why was he up at ten on a day he was snowed in and had nowhere to go? 

"Why am I up at ten?" Louis inquired out loud. 

"The same reason you were hugging Harry's pillow?" Niall innocently asked.

"What?!" Louis squawked. How did he know? "What makes you think I was hugging Harry's pillow?"

Niall shrugged. "I was going to go pounce on you, but Harry wouldn't let me. You're just lucky that he was coming out of the bathroom at the same time I was opening the door to jump on you."

Louis' head swam and he looked towards Harry who gave a knowing smile. What did he know that Louis didn't? Louis hated mornings. And Niall. And Harry. Or maybe not Harry. It was too early for the Christmas decorating test, but the sooner they got started the sooner they could be finished.

"Whatever," Louis responded. "So what's the plan for today? I haven't actually looked outside, but I'm just going to assume we're snowed in."

"That we are," Niall said. "I checked the weather. Looks like we got about eight inches and it's expected to start again this afternoon. You're stuck, Tommo."

"Where did all this snow come from anyway?" Louis inquired. "This is the UK, it’s not supposed to snow like this.”

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it came from the sky," Niall sassed.

Louis gave Niall an unimpressed look. It was going to be a long day. Louis wasn't as eager to leave Harry's anymore, though, so maybe they could accidentally lock Niall out of the flat? It was warm enough in the hallway to not freeze. He would be fine. Louis could toss him some biscuits from time to time. 

Louis was pulled from his plotting as Harry placed a full English breakfast in front of him. Louis' stomach was happy just seeing the food. Louis looked up at Harry and gave a grateful smile. He hadn't had a meal like this in awhile. Robert wasn't really big on cooking either, so this was a treat.

"So," Niall started. "Decorating today? This will be fun."

Louis gave a non-committal grunt as he took a bite of the perfectly cooked eggs. He looked over to see a quizzical look on Harry's face. Louis wasn't sure what that meant but the food was good so he didn't worry about it.

"Unfortunately Liam was the one to pack the decorations up last year, so things aren't really in the proper place," Harry explained. "It's definitely not organized in a way to make it simple. But maybe with the three of us it won't be that bad."

Louis internally groaned. Manual labor was going to be involved. 

"Did you hear that, Lou?" Niall asked. "We get to decorate and organize."

Louis threw him a look. Niall knew Louis' dislike for the labor of decorating. There was a reason why their flat had a simple pre-lit fake tree in it. Louis had briefly googled to see if there were people to hire to decorate for him, but had come up with nothing. Louis looked over to find Harry looking between the pair as if trying to figure out what wasn't being said.

"I was also thinking we could spend some time making a snowman," Harry continued.

Now that was something Louis could get behind. 

"Oh, I'm all over that," Louis said with excitement. He waved a piece of bacon in front of Niall and said, "You're going down, Nialler."

Niall snatched the bacon out of Louis' hand and took a bite before tossing it back onto Louis' plate.

"He said building a snowman, Lou," Niall explained. "That means teamwork."

Louis rolled his eyes and met Harry's gaze. Harry had a look of excitement that hadn't been there a few seconds ago. Not that Louis had been paying attention.

"Can we do the team building activity first?" Louis asked. "Or before it starts snowing again?"

"I think..." Niall started.

Harry quickly cut Niall off and said, "Whichever you would prefer, Lou."

Louis nodded decisively. Niall was going down. And then Louis would throw him a towel and blanket before locking him out of the flat. Louis looked around the kitchen and spotted the biscuits that he could toss out to Niall occasionally. Although that did leave one less person to help with the decorating. Hmm. He'd think on that while he buried Niall in the snow.

"Let's build a snowman first," Louis stated. He looked over to Niall and smirked. Niall rolled his eyes. 

\----

Louis hadn't exactly packed a set of clothes to play in the snow in, but he figured they wouldn't be outside for too long, so he kept his joggers on and was impatiently waiting for Niall and Harry by the door. Naturally Niall was digging through Liam's clothes to find something to wear. Niall had said he texted Liam for permission, but Louis had his doubts. Either way they needed to hurry up.

Harry walked out of his bedroom bundled in what looked like ten pairs of trousers and three jumpers. He immediately frowned when he saw Louis waiting by the door. 

"Well, one down," Louis stated. "Where's the Irish one? We have snowmen to build."

Harry shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed. "Do you want to catch your death, Lou? I'm sorry, love, but you need more than a pair of joggers on."

Louis shrugged. "It's fine. We won't be out there for that long, will we? As long as you have tea or hot chocolate for when we get back inside, all will be well."

Harry held out his hand and beckoned for Louis to follow. Louis let out a sigh and followed. He would blame it on the alpha part of Harry, but he doubted even Niall would let him outside dressed in so few clothes. Whatever. 

Harry disappeared into Liam's room as he pointed to his own room. Liam was going to come home to absolutely no clean clothes. Harry was quick to return to his own room and handed a pile of clothes to Louis. 

"These are Zayn's," Harry explained. "You can get these drenched in the snow and we'll figure out what to do once we get inside."

Why was Louis wearing Zayn's clothes? He'd happily wear Harry's clothes. On the other hand, Zayn's joggers looked smaller and Louis would have less fabric restricting him. He'd be able to move faster this way. Harry was smart. Well, if he had been thinking of that. 

Harry moved to leave the room, but Louis first asked, "Harry, why was I hugging a pillow?"

It was a random question but he never needed a pillow before. It was odd. 

Harry shrugged. "You were hugging me, I just replaced me with a pillow when I got up. It's stupid, I know."

Oh. Well, okay. Louis shook his head and gave a shy smile. "It's not stupid, Harry. That was sweet, thank you."

Harry's face broke into a pleased smile. He nodded towards the clothes and said, "Get dressed and we can go play in the snow, yeah?"

Louis watched Harry as he closed the door to allow Louis to get dressed alone. First of all, he had been hugging Harry? How did that come to be? Wasn't Harry the one hugging, or at least holding, him when they fell asleep? Louis heard Niall calling his name so he moved yet another thought to the back of his mind to return to later. 

\----

The snow was the absolutely perfect type to make snowmen in. And snowballs. Lots of snowballs. Harry had brought two blue ornaments, chocolate chips, and a carrot out with them to use for a snowman. Louis had never seen ornaments used for eyes before and he loved the look. They were set perfectly into the snowman's head. Those along with the carrot nose and mouth made with chocolate chips made the best snowman Louis had ever helped make.

"It's perfect," Louis said as the trio stood and admired their work. It really had been a project in teamwork. Louis plucked a chocolate chip off of the snowman and popped it into his mouth. 

"Lou!" Niall shouted. "Eat the ones out of the bag."

Louis looked over to Niall and said, "What? Like you weren't about to do the exact same thing?"

"That's completely irrelevant," Niall countered. 

Louis picked up a snowball he had pre-made and smashed it over Niall's head. 

"Oops?" Louis innocently said. 

"Right," Niall started. "It's time to slaughter you. Bring it on, Tommo."

Apparently Niall had also been making his own pile of snowballs while they were working, because Louis quickly found himself with a face full of snow.

Louis looked over to Harry who appeared to be silently laughing. His eyes were alight and so beautiful. 

"Harry?" Louis asked. "Whose team are you on?"

"Team?" Harry asked as he looked between Louis and Niall. "Why do I have to pick a team?"

"Because..." Louis started. His sentence was quickly cut off when he was hit with another handful of snow, this time from Harry. Louis wiped the snow from his face and looked to Harry in astonishment. 

"You're supposed to be Team Louis, Harry," Louis stated.

Niall snorted. Louis immediately picked up another snowball shot and it hard into Niall's chest. 

Unfortunately, it was each man for himself. Fortunately Louis was winning. The snow was deep which made running impossible, but fortunately there was a snowman to hide behind as Louis took shot after shot at both Harry and Niall. Louis' current focus was on Niall as Harry seemed to have disappeared. Well, at least until Louis found himself being tackled by the alpha. 

Louis looked up in shock to find Harry smiling down at him. Louis struggled to grab snow to shove in Harry's face. He finally succeeded only to realize his own stupidity once the snow fell off of Harry's face and onto his own. 

Harry grabbed both of Louis' hands in one of his own and held them tight above Louis head. Harry hurriedly wiped the snow off of his own face and immediately turned his attention to Louis'. Harry was gentle as he brushed the quickly melting snow from Louis' cheeks and Louis closed his eyes to allow Harry get the snow out of his eyes. 

When Louis opened his eyes, Harry was so close. His eyes were bright and his cheeks a lovely shade of pink from the cold. His beanie had fallen off in the scuffle and left Harry with his hair falling around his face. 

"You're beautiful," Louis accidentally admitted. Or maybe not by accident? Harry was still on top of him, his hold on Louis' hands now loose to allow him to easily move but Louis made no effort to do so. 

"You're the beautiful one," Harry deflected. "I've always thought so. Even when you hated me. Or maybe you still do hate me. But you're so lovely like this. So happy and free. It suits you."

They were so close that Louis could feel the warmth from Harry's breath. Louis glanced down to Harry's lips. They were soft and so very kissable. It wouldn't take much movement on either party to close the distance between them.

"Are you accepting defeat, Tommo?" Niall yelled. "I gladly accept your surrender.... oh."

So apparently Niall's yelling wasn't as far away as it seemed, because he was suddenly in Louis' peripheral vision. Harry didn't even take notice and didn't move until Louis turned to look at him. Niall's mouth was hung open as if he were about to say something, but he remained speechless.

"Um, okay," Niall finally managed to get out. "I wasn't expecting that. Or this. Should I leave you two alone or.... ?"

Harry was already climbing off of Louis, so they clearly wouldn't need that minute. He continued to keep his sole focus on Louis, a smile plastered on his face.

"It's fine, Niall," Louis advised. "Harry was upset that I was beating him in the fight, so apparently he felt the need to tackle me so my clothes would become even more drenched. When I get a cold and die, he's to blame."

Harry let out a loud laugh as he reached down to help Louis up. If Louis held onto Harry's hand longer than necessary, Niall didn't need to know. Thankfully he was already making the trek towards the complex and didn't look back.

\----

It's a shame Harry didn't have a fireplace. It would have been the perfect setting as they sat around the living room with cups of hot chocolate in hand. Naturally, Niall stole some more of Liam's clothes. Louis was fairly certain he still had a pair of joggers in his bag, but he couldn’t say no when Harry offered his own clothes. They were simple joggers, a large t-shirt, and a jumper, but they smelled strongly of Harry and Louis loved them. 

As Louis was finishing his hot chocolate, he looked around the room at the many boxes. Louis did love decorating trees, but only if said decorations were easily in reach. Louis looked at the bare tree and wondered if he could get away with pretending to help until the tree decorations were found. 

Minus the fairy lights. Those were a pain in the ass to get on. There was a reason he had gotten a pre-lit tree for his own place.

Louis tore his eyes away from the tree and briefly met Harry's slightly intense gaze before Louis put his attention back on his cup of hot chocolate.

"Okay," Harry began. "Since the fairy lights are already untangled, thanks to the two of you, I think we should start with those. Niall, will you help with that?"

"Sure," Niall enthusiastically volunteered. Had he ever put fairy lights on a tree before? Louis was guessing he hadn't or else he wouldn't have been so willing to help with the job.

"Excellent," Harry continued. "Lou, your job is to make sure we're actually getting them on so that they look good. Make sure we're getting them with good spacing and such, yeah?"

Louis looked up at Harry in awe. That was his assigned job? Sit on the couch and direct them? Harry gave a slight nod and lovely smile as he moved to gather the lights.

"Wait, that's his job," Niall asked, echoing Louis' thoughts. "Sit on the couch and tell us what to do?"

"No," Harry answered. Louis cringed at what may be coming. "Direct us, not tell us. There's a difference."

There was absolutely no difference and they all knew it, but Niall merely grunted and let it go. He was a good friend.

Louis did an excellent job of directing. They looked perfect, as perfect as they could get with the lights evenly spaced. He had a feeling the back of the tree didn't look as good, but neither did all of the broken branches so he figured that part didn't matter.

"Now what?" Niall asked. He sounded incredibly excited for another task considering he had just spent twenty-eight years putting the lights on.

"Now we find the ornaments while Louis goes and gets us some tea," Harry stated. "Niall, you were poking around in all of the boxes yesterday, so you should have an idea where they're at, right?"

"All of the boxes look the same, Harry, and you moved them all around when we went to watch the movie," Niall explained. "I was supposed to remember where they're at? Actually, I don't think I even saw any ornaments."

Louis quietly stood up and moved to the kitchen before Niall could comment on their assigned jobs. Louis might really like Harry. So far he was passing the Christmas decorating test with flying colors. Although there were still a lot of boxes and who knew what was in them. How much decorating was required for Harry to think like the flat felt like a home?

Louis started the kettle and waited by the counter. He couldn't help but dig his nose into the fabric of Harry's jumper. He thought back to what he was thinking of while lying awake on the couch. Could the effect of an alpha's scent really signal that they were mates? In all of his times with alphas, whether in a relationship or just daily encounters, he had never been affected so strongly by one’s scent. Not even close. Louis needed to get out of the flat and around people, with Harry by his side. He had a strong feeling that in the midst of other scents, they would all melt away and Louis' senses would be solely on Harry. It was a scary thought since Louis barely knew him, but he couldn't get it out of his mind.

With three cups of tea in hand, Louis walked into the living room to find Niall and Harry digging through the boxes strewn around the room.

"Are you fucking kidding me," Niall burst out. "The very last box is where the ornaments are?"

"That's usually how things work in this type of situation, Niall," Louis said as he carefully set the cups down on the coffee table. "You know that."

Niall shot Louis a glare, Louis returned it with an innocent shrug.

"Tea break?" Louis asked.

"Since you spent so much time and effort into making it, of course," Niall responded with heavy sarcasm.

Louis looked to Harry to see if he could determine his thoughts on the matter. Harry glanced over to Niall before placing his attention on Louis. The smile on his face was subdued, but Louis could see it shining brightly in his eyes. A waft of pleasure and happiness briefly overtook Louis' senses and Louis had to duck his head to hide his warming cheeks. 

Why was he blushing? He watched as Harry took one of the cups from the coffee table and sat on the middle cushion of the couch while Niall took the armchair. Harry taking the middle cushion guaranteed that Louis would have to sit next to him, not that he was complaining. Harry nodded towards the cushion on his right and Louis naturally submitted to Harry's silent request.

"I'm thinking we need Christmas music," Niall suggested. "I vote that we listen to *NSYNC's Christmas album."

"Of course you do," Louis replied. "Lucky for you, I think it's a good album."

"Okay Mister Tea Making Director," Niall said with a wave of his hand. Louis saw the smile on his face, though, and he knew Niall didn't really mind the roles they were playing in the decorating project.

Harry got up and disappeared out of the room. Okay?

"So," Niall began. "I take it you no longer hate Harry?"

Louis scoffed. "Of course I still hate him. I just thought I'd play nice since we're stuck here," Louis explained. Seriously, he was not allowing Niall to gain any sort of satisfaction from Louis changing his mind about Harry. 

"Mhmm," Niall mumbled.

"Oh," Harry said at the same time. Louis quickly turned around to find Harry entering the room with his laptop in hand. Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck. Louis had put that disappointed look on Harry's face yet again. Harry looked like a deer in the headlights as he looked back at Louis.

"I..." Louis started. How was he meant to fix this? Louis looked over to Niall, silently pleading for help. Niall had to know he was kidding, right?

Niall gave Louis a small smile and looked over to Harry explaining, "He's kidding, H. Despite his desire to still hate you, he's failing miserably."

"What?" Louis outburst. "No, I'm not! I don't fail at hating people."

Louis swung back around, crossing his arms and sulking into the couch. Niall proceeded to burst out into his stupid loud Irish laugh. 

"Like I said," Niall continued. "He's failed miserably. So come give him a cuddle before he starts freaking out about you thinking that he still hates you. You can give me a cuddle too, if you want."

Harry slowly moved back into the room, clearly unsure who he was meant to believe. He handed the laptop over to Niall, who promptly pulled up Spotify. At least from what Louis could see, that was what he was doing. 

Harry grabbed his tea before sitting back down on the couch, leaving a much larger distance between him and Louis. Louis gave another pleading look to Niall who was pretending not to notice what was happening in the room. 

Niall looked back up and addressed Harry, "I was serious Harry. If I weren't a boring beta, I'm sure I would be getting a whiff of Louis regretting what he said." 

Niall waved his hand around in a nonsensical pattern. "Do you not smell it?"

"Niall," Louis quietly warned.

"What?" Niall asked innocently as he directed his attention back to Harry. Louis watched on as Niall raised one eyebrow at Harry. Harry looked over to Louis and he took in the slight frown on Harry's face. 

"I need a wee," Niall stated as he stood up. 

Lies. But Louis appreciated the gesture. Louis still supported locking Niall out of the flat. This was getting awkward.

Louis finished his tea and set the cup on the side table. Lous personally thought the alpha in the room should be the one to make the first move, but on the other hand, Louis was the cool omega who didn't care too much about that old school hierarchy rule. Or expectation. Whatever it was. 

Louis shuffled over into Harry's space and he was thankful when Harry slid his arm behind Louis' back and wrapped his hand around his waist, pulling Louis in tight. Louis let out a silent sigh of relief as Harry planted a soft kiss on the top of Louis' head. An even better response than what he was expecting.

They sat in silence for a few moments, enjoying the warmth of each other. 

"You're happy sitting like this," Harry said. It wasn't a question. And Louis knew he didn't need to answer.

Louis looked up and nodded. "Yeah."

"So you don't hate me?" 

Louis let out a snuffled laugh. "No, Hazza. I don't hate you."

"You should," Harry said. And okay, was Harry going to go back to thinking punching Robert was a terrible thing to do? Hmm. So maybe it was, but it was already done.

"Water under the bridge," Louis said as he nudged Harry.

"Oh good," Niall chirped from the entrance of the room. "You've kissed and made up. Or, well, did you kiss? Or no? You can if you want."

"Oh, my God, Niall," Louis mumbled into Harry's shoulder.

Niall threw himself back down on the armchair with a noncommittal shrug. "So, now what?"

"Now comes the hard part," Harry said. Louis groaned. The manual labor was real.

Harry pulled away from Louis and got up. "Now we decorate the tree!"

"Really?" Louis asked in astonishment. That was it?

"Come on, Lou," Harry said as he gestured towards the open box closest to the tree. "This is the hardest part of decorating."

Louis looked over skeptically and Harry merely shrugged. The twinkle in his eyes was back.

"Niall," Harry said turning to the Irish lad. "Get the music going and come join."

*NSYNC immediately started playing and Niall hopped up to join the tree decorating duo. As they moved around the tree, Louis could barely contain his joy in the process. His sisters were usually the ones who did most of the ornament hanging, and while Louis loved to watch them take charge, there was something about finding the perfect spot for each ornament. The difficult part of decorating Harry's tree was that he had a lot of perfect ornaments. He had quite a few generic ornaments, but most of them were either homemade or one of a kind.

Niall quickly gave up on decorating and declared he needed to make a personalized playlist. It was possible that Niall just gave up hanging things that Louis immediately took from its place to hang somewhere else. Mostly, Louis just wanted to look at each ornament. He wanted the story behind them. Like why was there a Christmas ornament with a baby Harry blowing out birthday candles? Or at least he assumed it was Harry. The boy in the picture didn't have curly hair though. 

"Is this you, Harry?" Louis inquired as he held up the picture in question. 

Harry moved around to stand behind Louis, settling his chin on Louis' shoulder to look down at the ornament with him. 

"It is," he said as he wrapped his arms around Louis' waist. Harry gave a tiny kiss to the side of Louis' neck and continued. "I honestly don't know why I chose to frame a birthday picture in a Christmas ornament but there you have it."

"When's your birthday?" Louis asked. It seemed a relevant question. 

"February first," Harry said as nosed his way behind Louis' ear. "And yours is Christmas Eve."

Louis wiggled out of Harry's hold and rounded on him. "Excuse you, but how do you know that?"

"He asked, I told," Niall said from where he was perched across the room. 

"You told him my birthday is on Christmas Eve?" 

Niall shook his head is disagreement. "No, I said it was December 24th. I didn't say anything about Christmas Eve. That's on Harry."

Louis looked over to find Harry looking between the pair with a disgruntled look on his face. 

"Harry," Niall explained. "Now that you've met Louis, Christmas Eve no longer exists. If you have any calendars, make sure to cross the words Christmas and eve off and replace them with Louis' birthday."

Louis nodded in approval and Harry burst out laughing. Louis scowled and moved back towards the box of ornaments. They were almost gone and he briefly wondered if Niall would take them all off of the tree so Louis could redecorate immediately. He needed to inspect all of the homemade ornaments in more detail. He wanted to learn everything there was to know about Harry.

\----

Niall refused to take the ornaments off the tree in order to redecorate, so the group once again sat around the coffee table. Well, Niall and Harry sat. Louis had immediately sprawled out on the couch leaving no room for Harry. 

Luckily Harry was wise and all knowing and seemed to realize that Louis really wanted to rest his head in Harry's lap while Harry brushed his fingers through Louis' hair. Either that, or Louis had made a comment about Louis' hair being in his eye. Which it wasn't. But it got Harry started with brushing his fringe away from Louis' eyes. Fifteen minutes later Harry was still petting Louis like the cat he was meant to be. Meow.

"You know," Louis began. "I really love days when I can just lay around the flat and do nothing. I live for those days. But with the knowledge that I can't go anywhere, this really isn't fun."

Niall rolled his eyes. "We've built a snowman, decorated a Christmas tree, and you seem to be getting along just fine with the alpha in the room. What more could you want?"

"To go outside," Louis stated. He really wanted to go to the pub, or a restaurant, or even just the grocery store with Harry. He needed to know how his scent mixed in with the rest of the world.

Louis reached up and poked Harry in his dimple. Louis really hadn't been giving them enough attention. "What are you doing for Christmas, Harry?"

Harry smiled down at him and said, "I don't have set plans yet. My sister, Gemma, doesn't know her schedule until closer to Christmas and apparently the rest of the family isn't allowed to make plans without her input. We have a couple of weeks, so...." Harry's shrugged. "We'll see."

"Tommo, what are you doing?" Niall asked. "You never told me."

Louis scoffed. "I told you months ago. Do I really need to repeat myself?"

"Yes," Niall said. "Because you never told me."

"I had to use the last of my vacation time when you got me sick..."

"I did not get you sick," Niall interrupted.

"Like I was saying," Louis proceeded. "So I have no vacation time. I will be here. All by myself. Because you breathed on me and gave me your dirty germs."

Which, speaking of. Louis looked back up to Harry and asked, "Will you get to see your dusty cat, Haz?"

"My... what?"

Niall let out a loud cackle. "Oh, my God, Lou, no."

Louis couldn't help his smile when he found Harry sporting a disgruntled kitten face. It may even be a little bit dusty.

"Your cat, Harry," Niall explained. "He's bitter that you suggested renaming my car after your cat. 

"Have you seen his car, Lou?” Harry questioned. "I've never seen a car so dusty. Even from the back seat I could see it. The name fits. Plus my cat is the coolest cat you'll ever meet."

"Right. Well, not when I named it when he first got the car," Louis countered. "I was trying to save Niall from having both a lame car, and a lame name."

"Hey!" Niall protested.

Louis directed his attention over to Niall and said, "Do you honestly believe a basic Ford Escort to be a good car? American made with no sunroof. Enough said."

Louis felt Harry silently laugh as he ran his index finger along Louis' jaw. Louis should insult Niall's car more often if Harry was going to do that. Louis looked up at Harry and found him smiling down at him. Did Harry really mean that Louis would meet Dusty? Because he did not miss the way Harry made it sound as if meeting Dusty was an eventuality and not just some distant possibility. It felt firm. Definite. Maybe Dusty wasn't so dusty after all.

"Besides," Louis continued after a moment of gazing into Harry's bright green eyes. "You trying to rename Greased Lightning is the reason why it's currently stuck outside covered in ten feet of snow. It's mad at both of you for even considering it."

Harry hadn't moved from looking down with bright eyes. He had a small smile on his face as he said, "I didn't think you were paying attention to our conversation."

Louis shrugged. "I had to make sure Niall wouldn't agree to your stupid suggestion."

"Mhmm," Niall mumbled. 

Louis tore his eyes away from Harry in order to glare at Niall. 

"Biscuits?" Niall asked. He was an absolute expert at transitioning from one topic another. A real professional, that one.

"You ate them all," Harry stated.

"No, I didn't," Niall protested. 

"You most definitely did," Louis agreed.

"That's okay," Harry said. "That just means we get to make more. It can be another team building activity."

Niall snorted. He really needed to drop that habit. "Absolutely not. You haven't seen Louis in the kitchen, H. I'm not going in there with him."

Louis really couldn't argue with him this time. Niall was right. 

"Come on, Lou," Harry said as he moved to get up, taking Louis with him. "Show me your baking skills. Or lack of baking skills. Either one is fine with me."

"Of course they are," Niall mumbled. "I'll be here watching Fast and Furious. At true holiday movie. Good luck, Harry."

\----

Louis honestly did not belong in the kitchen. He was trying to utilize his skills of looking like he was busy to get out of doing actual work, but Harry seemed to have quickly picked up what Lous was doing. Or not doing. Whichever.

"I've done the hard part, love," Harry said as he pulled Louis down off of the counter. "Now comes the fun part."

Harry had already mixed the batter and was rolling it out onto the counter next to where Louis had been sitting. 

"Fun?" Louis questioned. When did baking become fun? 

"Yes, fun," Harry stated as he pulled out a zip lock back filled with cookie cutters.

Okay, so Louis could get behind this. As Harry dumped out the bag Louis spotted cutters in the shape of snowmen, trees, stars and gingerbread men. Louis nodded to himself. Bring it on.

"Do we get to ice them too?" Louis asked. "Do you have ingredients for that?"

Harry gave Louis a smile that he was starting to recognize as being reserved for just Louis. Well, not that they had really been in the company of other people to test that theory, but for the moment Louis was going to claim it as his.

"I do have the ingredients, yes."

"Yay! Okay, this will be fun then. Maybe. I'll get back to you."

Harry let out a loud laugh as he gestured for Louis to pick the cookie cutter of choice.

As Louis picked up the gingerbread man cookie cutter he looked to Harry and asked, "How do you spell gingerbread man, Haz? Is it one word or two?"

Harry briefly furrowed his eyebrows. "It's two. Gingerbread and Man.

"See, that's what everyone says. No one seems to get that it's one word."

Niall entered the kitchen, appearing to be on a mission to the refrigerator.

He looked over to the cutter in Louis' hand and stated, "I'm just going to assume you're talking about how to spell gingerbread man."

"Maybe," Louis replied. "We already know the answer, but I'm just inquiring on Harry's opinion."

Niall rolled his eyes. "Harry, to make the argument shorter, just agree that gingerbread man is one word. Apparently in Louis' world it is, so save yourself and agree. Even though it's two words."

Niall pulled a beer out of the refrigerator and immediately left the kitchen.

"Hazza?" Louis questioned. "Go ahead and disregard Niall's comment. One word or two?"

"One?" Harry slowly replied. Or questioned. Good enough.

"Excellent," Louis stated. "Now, let's get moving on to cutting these little guys out."

Harry gave a soft laugh and picked up the snowman cookie cutter. Louis lost track of time as they worked. Or mostly talked, as they exchanged stories about Christmas traditions and their favorite holiday memories. Once the biscuits were in the oven Louis hopped back up onto the counter and watched Harry make the icing. 

He was so beautiful. And there was something about the fresh biscuits that was bringing out his scent.

"You smell good," Louis noted. And oh look. He was back to his mouth moving before his brain stopped it.

Harry halted mixing the ingredients together to send Louis a shy smile and said, "You smell better."

Excellent. At least Louis' outburst had a reverse reaction. A good one. 

"No one has ever told me that before," Louis admitted as he dropped his eyes down to his lap. 

Was Louis just making that up, or was it true? Either way he honestly couldn't recall anyone telling him that. Which seemed.... odd. Isn't that something a boyfriend, especially an alpha, would let their omega know? Or did all of Louis' previous relationships not think he smelled good? But on the other hand, had Louis flat out told an alpha that before? Because he couldn't remember a time of that happening either. What was wrong with him? Or them? And now, Louis had known Harry for a day and had just blurted it out with Harry returning the sentiment. Louis looked back up to find Harry with a frown on his face. What did that mean?

"No one has ever told you that?" Harry quietly asked.

Louis shrugged. "Maybe? I mean, I would hope so? But not that I remember."

Harry abandoned the mixer and moved over to stand in between Louis' legs. He wrapped his lovely hands around Louis' waist and pulled him closer to the edge of the counter in order to close some of the distance between them. Harry leaned forward and quickly kissed the side of Louis' neck. 

"You smell so good, Lou," Harry said. "I can't even describe your scent. It's just Louis. But you could make a killing if you bottled your scent and sold it for perfume."

Louis snickered but couldn't manage to say anything. Was Harry as in tune to Louis' scent as Louis was to Harry’s? Did he desire being closer to Louis’ scent like Louis did with him?

Harry kissed him on the other side of his neck and proceeded, "But, if it's okay with you, I'd rather not have to share it with the world."

Louis almost snorted, but he wasn't as rude Niall. Because was it okay with Louis? Of course it was okay. Although, Louis did just hate Harry yesterday. 

"I'm supposed to be hating you, you know," Louis said as he ran his hands through Harry's curly locks. He really hoped that Harry grew his hair out. 

"Do you still hate me? Or dislike me? It would make sense if you did," Harry quietly replied. 

Louis became momentarily distracted by the flecks of yellow in his eyes before he regained enough control and rolled his own eyes. "Harry, we literally just went through that a couple hours ago. I'll be honest, it still confuses me a bit, but I don't hate you."

"Confuses you?" 

Louis shrugged. "The person in the club is not the person in front of me. Which would normally concern me. But it doesn't."

Harry scrunched his forehead. "Why doesn't it?"

Louis liked talking about Christmas traditions better. Could they go back to that? He didn't exactly want to admit why yet.

"Because of your scent," Louis admitted. Damn it.

"Aren't you supposed to be making biscuits?" Niall asked as he walked into the kitchen, causing both Harry and Louis to turn to the source of interruption. It was a shame that Niall wasn't buried under the snow alongside his broken car.

"Right," Niall continued. "I promise I didn't mean to interrupt on purpose. Did you at least get to kiss first this time?"

Louis shot Niall a glare that would bring immediate death upon a cactus plant. Niall didn't seem fazed as he walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a second beer.

"Continue on," Niall said over his shoulder as he left the room. 

Harry pulled Louis forward by the shoulders and nuzzled into Louis' neck, taking the opportunity to scent him. 

"Once I saw you on the dance floor, you were all I smelled in the club that night," Harry mumbled into Louis' neck. "You were the only person in a room full of alphas and omegas whose individual scent I picked out. Of course I didn't know your name then, but it was still your scent."

Did he just... did Harry just... what the fuck was Louis supposed to say? What the fuck did that mean? Harry stayed nuzzled into Louis neck, only pulling back when the oven timer went off.

Harry moved around the kitchen, placing the biscuits on cooling racks and moving back to mixing the icing without another word. 

Louis had plenty of words. Or no words. Was Harry waiting for Louis to say something? Where was Niall when he needed him? The only thing he could do was follow Harry's movements as he finished the icing. Harry wasn't even looking up to meet Louis' gaze.

"Harry?" Louis finally managed to say. Harry glanced up from where he was tasting the icing. Louis' mind momentarily got side tracked because that was supposed to be Louis' job. "Why are you doing my job?" Louis' asked. 

"Your job?" Harry questioned. 

"Tasting the icing is my job. Didn't we discuss that?"

Harry released a soft laugh,. "We did not, no."

"Okay, well, now you know," Louis explained as he made grabby hands towards the bowl of icing.

Harry gave no argument as he shuffled in between Louis' legs again, the bowl of icing in between them. It was delicious. There really was no need to ice the biscuits. Louis would be just fine eating the icing out of the bowl. 

As if reading his thoughts, Harry pulled back and said, "Help me ice the biscuits, love. You're not eating the entire bowl of icing."

Louis huffed. "I wasn't planning on it. Maybe."

With the biscuits cooled, the pair got to work. Harry's biscuits definitely looked much more professional, but Louis' had more icing so Louis' would definitely taste better. In his opinion at least, Niall would probably agree. Or wouldn't care.

The pair were interrupted by Niall yelling from the other room. "I would come in there and ask, but who knows what I would walk in on. So I'll just yell and ask what's for dinner. Or are we just eating biscuits? That's fine too."

Louis shook his head and tore his eyes away from Harry. It wasn't an easy task but there was no hope in ignoring Niall when it came to food.

"You do realize that we're guests here right, Niall?" Louis asked as he joined him in the living room and stood between Niall and the TV, hands on his hips.

Niall shrugged. "Of course, but I don't think Harry is the type of person to let us starve, so I just thought I'd ask before he felt bad for not offering anything when we're hungry."

"You mean when you're hungry," Louis corrected.

"What are you in the mood for," Harry chimed in as he joined them.

Niall waved his hand in a nonsensical pattern. "I honestly don't care. But while we're on the topic, Liam texted and said that he would be home later tonight."

Niall made no sense, honestly.

"How is food and Liam coming home possibly on the same topic?" Louis asked.

"I have no idea," Niall replied. "But it killed two birds with one stone by putting them in the same sentence."

"Oh, my God," Louis mumbled.

Harry merely let out a laugh before asking, "Did he say what time?"

"Nope," Niall said. "However, I was thinking maybe he could help in digging out my car. It could be another team building activity since we'll have another teammate."

"Absolutely not," Louis quickly stated. "It's your job, you're digging it out."

"Or, maybe it should be Harry's," Niall continued. "Since you're so adamant on the fact that Harry talking about his cat was the reason for it to die in the first place. The car, not the cat."

"What?" Harry asked.

"Either way," Niall interrupted. "I've called a couple places and we can get someone out here tomorrow morning to tow Grease Lightning to the shop. And Ubers should be out in full force in the morning as well so we can get a ride home."

Louis had momentarily forgotten about life outside the flat. He wanted to stay and get to know everything there was to know about Harry. On the other hand he wanted to go somewhere to test the whole scent theory. 

"Maybe we could go to the pub tomorrow night to celebrate the fact that we survived the blizzard," Louis suggested.

"Or the fact that you no longer hate me," Harry said as he gently pulled Louis back into him. Harry wrapping his arms around Louis' waist as they stood back to front.

"Or the fact that you two..." Niall started. "Never mind." 

Congratulations go to Niall who didn't say what Louis thought he might say. Not that Louis knew exactly what that was, but it could be bad. Or embarrassing. He'd investigate that later. 

"What's for dinner?" Louis asked before the conversation could go any farther off course.

"Pancakes?" Harry suggested. 

"Sounds brilliant," Niall said.

"Sounds delicious," Louis agreed. 

Harry squeezed Louis' waist before letting him go to head back to the kitchen. Louis wasn't sure if he should follow or not.

"Do you want to help, Lou?" Harry asked over his shoulder.

"I would love to show moral support while you cook," Louis said. The kitchen counter was quite comfortable after all. Someone should appreciate it.

"Of course you would," Niall mumbled as he turned back to the TV.

Louis ignored him and followed Harry into the kitchen. He promptly hopped up on the countertop and proceeded to watch as Harry gathered the needed items for pancakes. Breakfast for dinner was the best. Louis liked Harry. Yep.

Harry didn't seem to mind the fact that Louis was not helping in any way. They were both content to have another opportunity to get to know each other better. Being stuck in the flat was like a crash course in the getting to know you part of dating. With the possibility of Harry being his mate, Louis would forever be grateful that Niall's car broke down. Not that Niall would ever know that. Ever.

With the pancakes made, the group once again gathered around the kitchen table to enjoy Harry's delicious cooking.

"So I was thinking," Niall said between bites of food. "If Liam is coming home tonight, where am I meant to sleep? Actually that's a stupid question. I"ll take Louis' spot on the couch and Louis can sleep on the floor. Problem solved, never mind."

Louis and Harry locked eyes. The thought of not being next to Harry when they were both in the same flat was not even an option.

Niall seemed to read his thoughts and continued, "Okay, fine. I'll sleep in Harry's bed and you can both squish onto the couch." Looking between Louis and Harry, Niall said, "I'm kidding. Well, kind of. But fine. I'll sleep on the couch and the two of you can cuddle in Harry's bed." Niall pointed between the pair. "Cuddle. Nothing more. I don't want to be hearing any noises that I don't need to be hearing."

"It didn't even cross my mind," Louis lied. He glanced over to Harry who had a soft smile on his face. 

\----

They had finished eating and were back to lounging in the living room when Liam arrived. Or at least Louis assumed it was Liam since he opened the door using a key and walked into the flat as if he owned the place.

"Hey Liam," Niall greeted. "Welcome to the party. Or, not really a party, but I'm here so it's something."

"It's something, that's for sure," Louis mumbled. He promptly got a pillow thrown in his face, courtesy of Niall of course.

Harry grabbed the pillow from Louis' lap and chucked it so hard that Niall's phone flew out of his hand. 

"The fuck?" Niall exclaimed. Harry innocently shrugged and proceeded to pull Louis tighter into his side with a protective arm over Louis' shoulders.

Liam, who was still standing in the doorway, gestured between Harry and Louis. "Clearly I missed something."

Harry spoke for the group and said, "Liam this is Louis, Louis this is my wonderful roommate Liam. He's really good at shoveling snow."

"Nice to meet you," Liam stated as he moved to shake Louis' hand. "I'm glad we finally get to meet."

Louis took Liam’s hand in greeting, slightly confused by Liam's introduction.

"Finally?" Louis questioned, turning to look at Harry.

"Oh," Liam said. "What was that about shoveling snow? I love shoveling snow."

"You hate shoveling snow, Liam," Harry responded dryly. 

"Not tonight," Niall declared. "Let's go, Liam. Help me dig my car out."

Niall hopped up out of the armchair before anyone could respond and Liam was quickly escorted out of the room, presumably to help Niall with the snow.

Louis looked over to Harry and questioned, "Finally?"

Harry shrugged and explained, "I may have mentioned you to Liam? Okay fine. I definitely did."

Louis leaned up to give a quick peck to Harry's cheek. "And what did you say about me?"

Louis watched as Harry's cheeks grew pink as he said, "Nothing much, really. Just that I saw you at a club and you smelled really good."

"And?" Louis asked as he leveled Harry with a glare.

"I mean, of course I also told him how I may have punched the alpha you were with. But that I had really good reasoning."

"Your rut?" Louis asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Your scent."

"Oh."

"Plus he already knew my rut was coming up, so that was obvious."

Louis snorted. He didn't mean to. "Your rut coming up made it obvious that you would go out and start punching alphas?"

"Lou..."

"I'm kidding, Hazza," Louis said before breaking out in laughter. 

As Louis' laughter died down, the room fell into a comfortable silence. They had done a lot of talking throughout the day. It didn't seem possible that their time holed up togetherwas coming to an end. 

"Movie?" Harry quietly asked. "You pick."

Louis gave his best evil grin. "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

Harry pulled away from Louis and shuffled through one of the boxes by the TV, retrieving the original cartoon movie. 

"Oh my God," Louis said, slightly astonished. "I didn't really think you owned it."

Harry scoffed. "Of course I do, it's a classic."

Louis nodded in agreement. "Exactly. This is brilliant."

Harry got the video started and moved back to sit beside Louis. It didn't take long for Louis to rearrange himself so he was laying down, head on Harry's lap.

"I think I have a piece of hair in my eye, Harry," Louis innocently said. "Do you see it?"

Harry let out a snuffle of a laugh and brushed Louis' fringe from his eyes. 

"I love your hair, Lou," Harry said. "It's so soft."

"I didn't think to pack hair product," Louis automatically stated.

"That's okay," Harry said as he continued to work his fingers through Lous' hair. "I like it."

Louis turned his attention to the TV, unsure how to respond. He didn't do well at accepting such simple compliments. Of course the words 'thank you' would probably make for a good start in all situations. 

They weren't even five minutes into the movie before Harry paused it.

"Sit up for a minute, Lou," Harry directed. "Please?"

Louis turned and looked up at Harry in silent question.

Harry gave one of his only-for-Louis smiles and explained, "This is a really short film, love, and I want to scent you. If, um, if that's okay."

Louis refrained from rolling eyes and sat up. He allowed Harry to rearrange them so Harry was spooning and holding Louis tight. Kind of like Louis had been holding a pillow when he had woken up. Harry continued the movie without another word.

It was a short film, which was probably for the best since Louis could barely concentrate under Harry's ministrations. As the movie came to an end, Louis nudged Harry.

"Look at that Christmas tree, Hazza," Louis whispered. "Look how round it is. There aren't even any broken branches."

Harry let out a small laugh before he clamped his teeth onto the side of Louis' neck. Mother fucker. That was most definitely going to be the best lovebite of the century. Harry was kissing and licking over Louis' neck when he realized what Harry had just done. Well, technically all Harry was done was give him a lovebite. But if one were to think beyond that, which of course Louis couldn't help doing, Harry had just marked him. If they were able to go outside at this moment, no alpha would dare come near Louis. Or maybe they would, but only on a dare. A triple dog double dare.

Louis came back to the present when he heard Niall and Liam reenter the flat. Niall merely rolled his eyes as he spotted Harry and Louis together on the couch and went back to his armchair of choice. Liam soon joined the group, taking residence in the second armchair. Being in the arms of the prettiest alpha in the room was only slightly awkward, being Liam was so new to the group, but Louis was too high on pheromones to put much thought into it.

"Just out of curiosity," Liam pondered. He was looking at Louis' neck. "But did you just mark Louis? Not that it's really a question, but did you think I was going to come in and steal him from you?"

Niall let out a bright laugh as Louis felt his cheeks warm. All of his previous relationships had his alpha scent marking him at one time or the other, but they never took it a step farther and provided Louis with a physical mark as well. Louis felt Harry shrug but he didn't reply. Louis internally preened for no specific reason beyond the knowledge that Harry wanted more than to just scent mark him. 

Which, scent mark. Scent. Louis looked over to Liam. Sure, Harry had been filling the room with his pheromones but that wouldn't stop Louis' senses from smelling another alpha. Except Louis didn't smell Liam. Not without trying at least.

"Okay, Louis," Liam said, interrupting Louis' thoughts. "What's with the staring?"

"What?" Louis questioned. He was staring?

"Lou?" Harry asked. He sounded concerned.

"Nothing, it's just, um..." Louis trailed off leaving everyone in the room confused. Because was that it? Harry said Louis had been the only person he could smell in that club. Louis only had Liam to go off of but did he need more? Did he even need confirmation from Liam to know that Harry could possibly be his mate?

Louis wiggled out of Harry's arms and stood up. He needed a wee. Or he needed a moment of not being in a room of an alpha. 

"Just need a wee," Louis explained. "I'll be back in a few."

Harry seemed to send off a brief wave of concerned pheromones but Louis ignored it and left the group. What did this mean? 

He snagged his phone off of the coffee table before leaving the room. He needed Google. Google was all knowing and wise and could definitely give him the answer he needed.

Louis skipped the loo and instead moved into Harry's room. As he sat down on the side of the bed, he pulled up google. What had he been thinking of last night? He typed in various combinations of words, finally settling on 'finding your mate by scent'. The search results weren't very helpful, but Louis found one leading to a blog titled "How to know that you've found your mate." Louis pulled up the blog and found one post with a total of five words.

You just know. Don't doubt.

That was it? Who's the idiot that created this blog to gave him hope for an answer only to laugh in his face. Or on the other hand. Did Louis just know? Louis reached up to rub his finger along the lovebite on his neck. Had Harry ever done that to someone else? 

"Louis?" Niall quietly called from the doorway. "What are you doing in here?"

"Do I just know, Niall?" Louis asked.

Niall scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "What? What are you talking about?"

"My alpha," Louis clarified. "Am I just supposed to know when I find him? How am I supposed to know?"

Niall shrugged and moved into the room to sit next to Louis. "I don't know. I've never asked how people ended up finding their mate."

Louis let out a frustrated sigh before Niall continued. 

"However, I will say that everyone that I know who is mated seemed to hook up really fast."

Louis thought about that. That was true. He didn't know anyone with a mate that dated for an extended timeframe. They just seemed to figure it out and that was that. Also, everyone he knew had a great relationship with their mate.

Louis looked down at the pathetic blog entry and looked towards the doorway. Niall stood up and was already headed back out of the room.

Niall turned back and stood in the doorway once again. "Not that it means much, and shouldn't affect your decision, but I think he's really great, Lou."

With that, Niall turned to leave Louis to his thoughts. Yes, Harry was really great. He was amazing. But was it just because they were snowed in? 

Harry was next to show up in the doorway. "I was wondering where you went. Can I come in?"

Louis laughed. 'It's your room, Harry. Of course."

Harry slowly moved towards the bed to join Louis. "True."

That's all he sad as he sat down. He didn't wrap his arm around Louis as he expected Harry to.

"What are you thinking about, love?" Harry inquired.

There was no point in lying. "You."

Harry looked down at his hands as he asked, "What about me? Does it have to do with me marking you like that? I'm sorry if that's not something you didn't want."

Louis shook his head. He couldn't think straight. "Do you think you could give me a cuddle?"

Harry turned to face Louis, his eyes lighting up. "Of course. Always."

Harry pulled Louis down so they were lying on their sides facing each other. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Harry asked as he brushed Louis fringe out of his eyes. It actually was in his eyes this time, and Louis couldn't help but smile.

"I don't know?" Louis responded. "Or, well, I guess I was kind of curious if you had ever marked someone like that? You're the first alpha to do that. Or the first anyone to do that."

"No," Harry quietly stated. "I haven't. I didn't really give it much thought before I did it, to be honest. It just... seemed right? I'm sorry. Or I'm sorry if you didn't want me to do that."

So Harry didn't give it much thought. He just did it out of instinct? Did he just know?

Louis shuffled forward so he could be as close to Harry as possible. He nuzzled into Harry's neck and scented him as Harry wrapped his arms tight around Louis and pulled him impossibly closer.

You just know. Don't doubt.

Louis thought to how he hadn't even realized that Liam was there, as an alpha at least, but that Harry was all that Louis' senses recognized.

You just know. Don't doubt.

"I know that we just met, Lou," Harry whispered. "But I wanted to be with you ever since I laid eyes on you. And maybe that's stupid, but you're it."

Louis didn't doubt. 

"You're my mate," Louis whispered into the quiet room. "You're my alpha."

Harry kissed the top of Louis' head but didn't say anything as he held Louis tight. Maybe he was giving Louis time to process.

After several long moments Harry broke the silence. "And you're my omega."

Louis couldn't help but smile into Harry's shoulder.

"By the way," Niall interrupted from the doorway. Louis groaned and nipped Harry in the neck as penance for not closing the door.

"Why are you here, Niall?" Harry grumbled.

Louis bit Harry's neck a little harder. He wasn't sure Harry would consider it penance. 

"You left the door open, Haz," Louis said.

"You both owe me," Niall continued. "You guys wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me. I accept gifts in the form of cars, food, and cuddles. I prefer bundled packages."

Harry was out of Louis' arms and off the bed before Louis realized what was happening. 

"Goodnight, Niall," Harry said before he closed the door in Niall's face.

Louis burst out in laughter as Harry joined him back on the bed. Harry quickly ducked down to capture Louis' lips.

Harry broke the kiss and stated, "We do kind of owe him, you know. I'm not sure why he befriended me after the club incident, but I'll be forever grateful that he did."

Harry shifted onto the bed and pulled Louis back into his arms. 

"I wish Liam hadn't come home early," Louis pondered. "I wouldn't mind breaking Niall's rule about keeping quiet."

"I certainly can't disagree with that," Harry replied. "Maybe tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow works for me," Louis agreed as he cuddled into his alpha's arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading and I really hope you enjoyed it! I gladly welcome and appreciate kudos and nice comments! Should you feel so inclined, I would love you lots if you reblog my [fic post](http://2tiedships2.tumblr.com/post/180978868575/holiday-greetings-and-gay-happy-meetings-by)!
> 
> Belated authors note: I wanted to get this out for the holidays but I hope to have a part 2 for Christmas! 
> 
> ([Tumblr Fic Post](http://2tiedships2.tumblr.com/post/180978868575/holiday-greetings-and-gay-happy-meetings-by%22))


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